GAYS DIDN`T FORGET HANSEN ON ELECTION DAY

Jean Latz GriffinCHICAGO TRIBUNE

For four years, Ald. Bernard Hansen (44th) vigorously represented his gay constituents. On Tuesday, they repaid him.

Hansen`s ward has the highest concentration of gays and lesbians in Chicago, and that he was opposed by a gay candidate, Dr. Ron Sable, mattered not a whit. Hansen was returned to office with 65 percent of the vote.

Hansen, who defeated Sable in 1987 with 54 percent of the vote, had put his reputation and political skills on the line by introducing and working strenuously for passage of the human rights ordinance in 1989 and the hate crimes ordinance in 1990, two of the measures most desired by the gay community.

Given his track record, many homosexuals in the 44th Ward concluded it would be political suicide to turn against Hansen in this year`s aldermanic primary.

Had gays abandoned Hansen after he had worked so hard for their interests, they reasoned, it would have been very difficult ever again to convince a straight politician in Chicago that gays and lesbians could be trusted when they said, ''Help us now, and we`ll vote for you next time.''

This was the test of whether that promise would hold, even if the ''next time'' was a race against a gay candidate.

Though political expediency was certainly the major factor in Hansen`s victory, an undercurrent of divisiveness among gays in the ward also helped defeat Sable.

The struggle for gay rights over the past four years has created deep divisions between Sable and some of the most vocal gay groups, and this election intensified those rifts.

''If the seat had been open, I would have thought that Sable would have had an outstanding chance of capturing it,'' said Thomas Chorlton, editor of the newsletter of the International Coalition of Gay and Lesbian Elected and Appointed Officials, which is based in Washington, D.C.

''But Hansen was not terrible last time, and over the past four years he became a champion (for gays and lesbians) by necessity,'' Chorlton said.

''That`s a hard combination to beat.''

The Sable race also demonstrated that homosexuals will not automatically endorse or vote for someone just because he or she is gay. That message was also delivered in the 46th Ward, where Vince Samar, a gay attorney, garnered just 3.5 percent of the vote. That was enough, however, to force Ald. Helen Shiller, who had gay support, into a runoff with Michael Quigley.

In the 44th Ward, the signs appeared early and strong that the loudest gay and lesbian voices were not going to line up behind Sable.

Even before the Windy City Times, a gay-oriented newsweekly, endorsed Hansen in mid-February, its political columns were so critical of Sable that they prompted a flurry of angry letters to the editor from Sable supporters.

One mused that, from the coverage, he could ''imagine a hole-riddled picture of Ron`s face being used as the target for your office dart board.''

Activist Rick Garcia openly criticized Sable for not being involved enough in the gay rights battles of the past four years and for espousing political beliefs that were too far left for most gays and lesbians.

Impact, the gay and lesbian political action committee, gave equally strong recommendations to Hansen and Sable in the 44th, and to Shiller and Samar in the 46th.

At the same time, Hansen kept most of his former gay supporters. Longtime gay businessman Dewey Herrington supported Hansen in 1987 and stayed with him this time, becoming an aldermanic aide for community relations and often answering the phone at Hansen`s campaign headquarters.

Illinois has no openly gay or lesbian elected public officials, although several have been appointed. Two gay candidates were also defeated Tuesday for the Champaign City Council.